Inner-Dimensional Romance
by TheEarthbendingRavenclaw
Summary: "What do you mean Bill wasn't the only one..." "Just that. There's another of his kind that has conquered my dimension. Our Zodiac was broken, you see, all of the members slaughtered. That's why I need you. Your zodiac is still intact. You can save us still! Please, I'm begging you, Mabel, help me!" (Sequel to "Turning a New Leaf" and "Little Pine Seed."
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

 **AN:** **I know I promised this a while ago, but I kinda hit a writers block, and the more I tried to power through it the worse it got. So I decided to take a break from writing Gravity Falls stories and worked on some stuff for some other fandoms for a little while. But now I'm back, so enjoy!**

"...ready, Mabel?" the stage manager asked. "You're up for the final run."

"Yeah, I'm ready," Mabel said as she shook her hands to release the tension and nervousness she was feeling.

"Alright, models in place, let's go!"

Mabel straightened her shoulder and walked out onto the runway, a train of models decked in her clothing following along behind her. The audience jumped to their feet, cheering loudly. Mabel let out a sigh and smiled brightly.

"That's another success for me, baby!" she cheered to herself, as she waved wildly, smiling cheerfully at the front row where her family sat. Her twin brother, Dipper, waved back at her as his two-year old daughter, Persia, sat in his lap, also waving wildly. His wife, Pacifica sat next to him. Next to her was Wendy and Logan. And next to them were Stan and Ford. And next to them was Simeon. Her boyfriend...maybe? She'd met Simeon on Tinder, and they had seemed to hit it off, but he was reluctant to make things official. As she stared at him, he didn't return her gaze, and was instead looking at his feet. Her brow furrowed, but she pushed it aside as she made it to the end of the runway and bowed. Another cheer erupted through the crowd as she waved and she and her models walked back off stage.

As the stage hands began helping the models, Mabel slipped her way to where the after party was to be held, hoping to get there before the crowds did so she could chat up her family for a little bit. Sure enough, the gang was there before anyone else. Stan was the first to meet her, snatching her into a hug.

"I'm so proud of you, sweetie!" he cheered.

"This was mostly Pacifica," Mabel insisted.

"Nah," her sister-in-law waved Mabel off. "You made the original designs. I just aged them up a bit."

That was how they worked. Mabel designed children's outfits, and then Pacifica made adult versions of them.

"You should really join me up there sometime," Mabel insisted as she hugged Pacifica.

"No, I'm not to fond of the lime light these days," Pacifica said. "Besides, you worked hard to get here. You deserve your moment."

"I've had several of these moments now," Mabel stated. "Besides you've gotten up there before."

Pacifica shrugged. "Maybe I just didn't feel like it."

Mabel smiled mischivously. "Mm-hmm." She knew the real reason. Pacifica was pregnant with hers and Dipper's second child. As well as their third. Yup. Twins. Therefore she was showing much quicker thatn she had with Persia and she was very self-concious about it. Though Mabel knew this, she chose to keep her sister-in-law's secret and instead moved along to hugging the rest of her family.

"Kicked butt as usual," Wendy said as she patted her back with one hand, holding her son on her hip with the other. Logan squirmed to be let down. Wendy let the little boy go and he raced over to Persia, who was spinning around and around to make her skirt swish back and forth. The two children smiled at each other and began playing ring around the rosy.

Mabel giggled at them before reaching Simeon. He had a frown on his face.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"Can we talk somewhere private?" Simeon asked.

By now the crowds had begun filing in. Mabel nodded and lead Simeon onto to a balcony, looking over a park in the middle of the giant city her show had taken place in. Simeon leaned on the railing of the balcony as Mabel shifted uneasily. Her show had taken place in the grand lobby of a very snazzy hotel. She and her entorouge were given suites on the top floor (which she had dubbed the penthouse floor.)

"Erm...is something wrong?" she asked as Simeon continued staring straight ahead.

Simeon was silent for a while. Then he said it. "I'm not feeling this. Sorry."

"Feeling what? The fashion show. 'Cuz you don't have to come to anymore if you-"

"No. Us. I'm not feeling it. You're not the one, sorry."

Mabel's stomach dropped. She though everything had been good! They'd gone on romantic picnics, talked on the phone until the wee hours of the night, he'd even left her roses in her hotel room.

"Wha-what? But why!?"

Simeon shrugged. "I dunno. I just...when I read your profile I thought you'd be more...glamorous."

"Glamorous?"

"Yeah. You are a fashion designer, so I expected you to be...glamorous, fancy, well-mannered and you're...not."

"Well, wha-but I told you that!" Mabel began to cry. "You've known from the beginning that I'm not one of those girls."

"I know. I know. And I thought I could get used to it. But-" he shrugged. "I can't. I'm sorry."

He began to walk off.

"What, that's it!?" Mabel shouted. "You're just gonna dump me at my fashion show and leave!?"

"What else do you want me to do?" Simeon asked as he stepped off the balcony and walked off. Mabel turned and looked out over the park. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she just numbly stood there. She just got dumped. Out of the blue. For…

...no reason what-so-ever.

"Ugh! Why!" she shouted as she leaned her elbows on the railing and covered her face. "Why am I doomed to die alone!"

Dipper and Pacifica was married with a child and two on the way.

Soos and Melody were married with a baby.

Grenda was living it up with her royal bunny in Austria.

Candy was engaged.

Wendy was going steady with Thompson.

Even Robbie and Tambry were still married (by some miracle!)

And she just got dumped. AGAIN!

She sniffled and hugged herself as she continued to lean on the railing. Why did love hate her so? All she wanted was to have a good relationship. Heck, she wasn't even concerned with marriage at this point. Just a boyfriend that wouldn't dump her a few weeks after dating would be nice!

Through her sniffling and crying she heard the door of the balcony open.

"Hey, Mabel?" Dipper's voice came. "You've got a lot of fans in here who want to meet y-what happened?"

His brow furrowed in concern at the sight of his sister crying.

Mabel sniffled as she turned to him. "Simeon dumped me."

"He what!? When!? Just now! At your fashion show! ERGH! Where is that-"

"Dipper, don't," Mabel grabbed his arm to keep him from running after her now ex.

"Bad enough he dumped you, but that he chose the absolute worse time. This is supposed to be your big moment!"

Mabel just sniffled and covered her face to hide her face as the tears stopped simply trickling down her face and began gushing from her eyes and the flood gates busted open.

"Ah, geez, c'mere," Dipper sighed as he pulled his sister into a hug. "He's an idiot, Mabel."

She didn't respond, she couldn't, she was crying too hard.

"C'mon, let me take you to our room," Dipper said. "Last thing you need is for someone to see you."

She nodded as he took her by the hand and lead her to the end of the balcony, where there was a door leading right to a hallway. He opened it, called and elevator, and they rode up with his arm around her, her face buried in his shoulder. By the time they'd gotten to the top floor the floodgates had stopped, though she still had a few tears leaking out every now and then. She sniffled as she wiped her face and looked up at her brother.

"Oh, sorry bro-bro, I got mascara on your blazer."

"Eh, don't worry about it. I'll get it out later. Besides, I've got a change in the room."

"You do?"

"You have a toddler, you bring three changes for everyone everywhere you go," he scoffed.

Mabel chuckled, despite her tears as he swiped his card key and opened the door for them. Mabel face plopped onto the couch.

"Ugh! Why me!?"

Dipper sighed as he shed his stained blazer and sat down next to his sister. "It's not always you."

"Yes it is! I have the worst luck with men!"

"Well, that might be true, but things will look up soon, I'm sure of it," Dipper said as he patted Mabel's hair. "Mr. Right's out there for you Mabel...we just haven't found him yet."

"Easy for you to say, Mr. Been-Happily-Married-For-Three-Years!" Mabel shouted, regretting her words the minute she said them. "Sorry…"

"It's fine," Dipper assured her. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Got anything sweet or chocolate?"

"I'll check," Dipper stood up and walked to the frigde in the room. "Erm...got some banana pudding, some whip cream, poptarts, chocolate syrup, some neopolitan ice cream-" he popped the ice cream open and sighed. "-that no longer has chocolate because Pacifica's greedy guts has already scooped it all out."

"Ish fine," Mabel muttered. "Just bring it all to me."

"All of it?"

"All of it!"

Dipper shrugged as he gathered the armful of sugar and dumped it on the coffee table infront of the couch. Mabel pushed herself up, grabbed a cup of pudding, tore it open and then chugged it down like a shot.

"I'm gonna die alone!" he lamented as she grabbed the whip cream and shot it right into her mouth.

"No, you're not," Dipper sighed as his phone buzzed. Mabel looked over and could see he'd gotten a message:

 **Princess 33: Where r u and Mabel?**

"Princess," Mabel mumbled. "I'm never going to be someone's princess!"

"Ach!" Dipper quickly hid the phone from her. "I...erm...I mean, would you really want to be called princess? Because, that would get weird because that's what I already call Pacifica-"

"Yeah, yeah, you got married first! Don't rub it in!" Mabel collapsed onto her back upon the couch, taking another pudding shot while she was at it. "Got any booze?"

"Mabel, what do you think? I have a toddler and pregnant wife."

"I said stop rubbing it in!"

"I wasn't!" Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose. "Besides, booze is the last thing you need."

"I need to drown my tears!"

"Isn't that what the sugar rush is for?"

"It's not working fast enough! UGH-HUR-HUR!" She dramatically draped her arm over her eyes. "Why, Simeon? WHY!"

Dipper opened a pack of pop-tarts and stuck one into Mabel's mouth.

"Uh, uh," Mabel pointed the the plank of pop tart sticking out of her mouth. Dipper picked up the can of whip cream and coated the pastry in cream. Mabel began chewing it down, never taking her arm off of her eyes.

"Another," she grumbled once she'd swallowed it. Dipper relented, covering it in whip cream once again as his phone buzzed again.

 **Princess 33: Hello?**

 **Hubby: Simeon dumped Mabel. We're back the room.**

 **Princess 33: Oh no he didn't! Should I come up there?**

 **Hubby: Maybe? I mean, if you want to sure, but you don't have to. Feel free to comeback if you feel like it though.**

 **Princess 33: Was that a yes or no?**

 **Hubby: That was a yes, maybe**

 **Princess 33: You don't know what to do.**

 **Hubby: You are right, I don't know what to do. HELP ME!**

Mabel began shovelling ice cream into her mouth when the door opened again.

"Alright, where is she at?" Pacifica asked as Persia scampered inside.

"Daddy!" the little girl called, holding something in her tiny hands.

"Whatcha got there, Peanut?" Dipper asked as he knealt down and scooped the little girl into his arms.

"I gots a wot of neck-cah-sas!" Persia held up a handful of pink and silver mardi gras beads...that were supposed to be decorating the tables at the after party.

"Uh-huh, and how did you get those?" Dipper asked as he turned to his wife, who had sat down next to his sister.

"It was either give her those to play with, or let her keep trying to pull the punch bowl off on top of herself," Pacifica answered, before turning back to Mabel and stroking her hair.

"Told you to let her bring her llama," Dipper said, which then caused Persia to erupt into a chorus of:

"Llama! Llama! I wan' mah llama!"

"Okay, we'll go find your llama," Dipper said as he began carrying her back to her room.

"And who was going to keep up with the llama?" Pacifica asked. "Not this pregnant woman, and you would lose your head if it wasn't attached to your neck!"

"Not saying you're right, but I'm also gonna say I was wrong," Dipper said before disappearing into Persia's room.

Pacifica stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to her sister-in-law.

"Must be nice," Mabel grumbled. "Being a mother and wife. I'm just stuck being the crazy aunt. Who's going to be overweight. Because sugar is my only friend!"

"I know it feels like that now," Pacifica said. "But things will get better."

Mabel shook her head. "I'm gonna die single, alone, and fat!" She downed another cup of pudding.

Pacifica sighed. "You're a special woman, Mabel. And you deserve an equally special guy, but those guys are hard to find."

"You're telling me?" Mabel scoffed, finishing off the last of the whip cream directly into her mouth. "Why must love be so difficult. Why can't it be like in the fairy tails where hot, sensitive, loving men just fall from the sky!"

 _BOOM!_

A loud noise shook the hotel as a bright light emitted from outside. Both women jumped at the sound, Mabel knocking the bow of ice cream onto herself. Persia screamed in fear as Dipper raced out of her room, daughter still in his arms. Her llama toy was now clutched tightly to her chest.

"What was that?" he asked.

All three adults ran to the window. There was a smoking crater in the middle of the park.

"Pacifica, here," Dipper handed Persia off to his wife and began racing out of the room.

"Hey, wait for me!" Mabel shouted, wiping ice cream off herself as she raced after her brother.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO! A car alarm blared as everyone gaped at the blue and green smoke emitting from the burning crater in the middle of the park. Most people had begun to run away screaming. Some just stood and gawked. There were only two people actually headed towards the glowing, otherworldly hole like the crazy maniacs they were.

"Make a hole people! Mystery twins are on the case!" Mabel shouted as she followed along behind Dipper towards the park.

"Yup!" She nodded. "We are-We are-hey, bro-bro can you slow down?" Mabel huffed, longing for the days long gone when she was the taller twin.

Dipper either didn't listen to her or chose to ignore her because he kept pushing and running forward. He jumped the fence surrounding the park, landing just in front of a clump of bushes and kept runing. Mabel tried to jump it, logically thinking she could since she and Dipper had always been about the same size…

...until five years ago when he hit the growth spurt of ages and overcame her by about 8 inches. Her ankles caught the fence, sending her face-planting into the bushes.

"Ack!" she cried as she crawled her way out, not even bother to rid herself of the branches and leaves that had embedded themselves in he hair, sweater and even teeth. She could see Dipper still running ahead of her and scrambled to catch up to him. She'd almost reached him when he suddenly stopped and held an arm out in front of her.

"Mabel, careful!"

"Augh!" Mabel cried as she tried, and failed to put the breaks on in time to keep herself from getting clothes-lined by her brother's arm.

"Hugu!" she coughed as she caught Dipper's arm against her neck, her feet still not ceasing, causing a bit of a pendelum effect as her feet went up in the air while her chin was still hung on Dipper's arm. Thankfully gravity pulled her to the ground before she swung back and forth too much, even if a bit roughly.

"Ooowwww!" she grumbled.

"I told you to be careful," Dipper muttered.

"Me!?" Mabel shouted as she sat up. "I'm not the one that nearly snapped my twin's neck!"

"Sh!" Dipper held a finger to his mouth and gestured his head to the crater. There was an eerie glow emitting from the bottom of it, one of pale greens and blues that made both Pines twins shudder. Mabel stood to her feet and she and Dipper began to inch closer.

Suddenly Dipper's watch began to buzz. He looked at in and tapped on one of the buttons.

"Yup, definately from another dimension," he said.

"Psh, I coulda told you that without your's and Grunkle Ford's fancy gadgets," Mabel scoffed as she stood on her toes and peered into the crater. There was a large, cube shaped object in the center of it with several wires poking out of it and extensions poking out of it.

The two glanced at each other then began to slowly creep their into the hole. As they tiptoed towards the cube Dipper noticed a strange brick. It was red, like any other brick, but is was smooth, almost like it was made from metal, and it had a yellow glow to it. He carefully bent down and picked it up.

"Why does that kinda remind of Bill's pyramid from weirdmagedon?" Mabel shuddered.

"Don't say that!" Dipper's eyes widened as he dropped the brick, stood up, and he and Mabel approached the cube once more.

"Erm…?" Dipper arched an eyebrow.

"Is that a washing machine?" Mabel wondered out loud.

Sure enough, it was a washing machine, with about five wire clothes hangers, a satellite dish, a spatula, and a rubber chicken attached to the top of it. There were two appendages in the shape of airplane wings on either side of the washing machine that looked like they were made from aluminum foil and playdough. A neon announcement sign, like one you'd see above the theater in a cinema, was attached to the front just above the door with duct tape. Stuck to either side of the neon sign with what looked like rubber bands and old chewing gum was a baking time and a blue tooth speaker.

"Erm...bro-bro, what-"

"No clue."

The blue tooth speaker suddenly came to life and announced: "Arrival to earth 9 and 6/8's successful! Initiating revitalizing sequence!"

As the speaker spoke the words appeared on the neon sign, as well as a warning to stand back. The door to the washing machine popped open. A purple, glittery liquid poured out. Mabel and Dipper jumped back to keep from getting wet just as a man tumbled out of the washing machine and onto the ground, wearing a scuba tank, mouth piece, and mask.

"Oh my gosh!" Dipper exclaimed as he ran to the man's side.

Mabel gasped, holding a hand to her mouth as she knelt to the man's side. She ripped the goggles and mouth piece off him and set a hand under his head as Dipper held his wrist in his hand and checked his pulse. He had golden blond hair, a well-chiseled jaw line, a scar over his right cheek bone, and a rather muscular build. He was dressed in what looked like a mish-mash of clothes from the 50 cent bin and the thrift shop and had several bandages on his limbs.

"Hey, hey Mrs?" Mabel asked. "You okay?"

He didn't respond, but kept his eyes closed as he lay motionless.

"Hello?" Mabel snapped her fingers over his still face. "Are you dead?"

"No, he's got a pulse," Dipper said.

Mabel began lightly slapping the man on the cheek. "Blink three times if you're not dead!"

"I just told you he's not dead," Dipper sighed.

"Hey! Mr.-still-got-a-pulse-so-not-dead say something! Watcha doing in a washing machine?" Mabel pinched his nose and began shaking his head back and forth.

The man suddenly took in a deep gasp and opened his eyes. Mabel let go of his nose and leaned closer.

"You okay?" she asked.

The man continued gasping as he slowly opened his eyes. Mabel gasped. One was a deep, forest green, while the other was a vibrant ocean blue. The man blinked as he stared up at her, a curious and confused look on his face.

"Wha-" he whispered.

"You okay?" Mabel repeated. "You just came from the wash. You feeling alright? You remembered to use fabric softener, right?"

"Seriously?" Dipper grumbled.

The man slowly turned and looked at Dipper, then back at Mabel, then up at the sky above him. He gasped, his eyes growing wide.

"Stars…" he whispered. "The moon…"

"Huh?" Mabel looked up at the sky.

"I made it…" the man gasped.

Mabel turned to him and was shaked to find tears in his eyes.

"I made it…" he whispered one last time beforehis eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out again.

"Whoa, hey, dude, don't go back to sleep!" Mabel said, taking his head in both of her hands. "You haven't even been dried yet!"

"I'm calling an ambulance," Dipper said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Mabel nodded, pulling the man's hand into her lap. He grumbled something in his sleep, then reached up and grabbed her wrist. Mabel gasped as she saw a mark on the back of his hand.

The Zodiac Wheel!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

"Hi, 'scuse me?" Mabel asked as she leaned over the reception desk at the hospital. "We're here lookin' for a John Doe."

"Y'know how many John Does turn up in a big city like this?" the nurse scoffed.

"How about one that was riding in a washing machine with a scuba tank on?" Mabel asked.

"Gotcha, Room 13. And believe it or not, that ain't the craziest story I've ever heard working here."

"Thanks, and I believe it!" Mabel cheered as she skipped back to where Dipper, Stan, and Ford were waiting. "On to room 13!" she cheered.

"Not sure if I'm looking' forward to this," Stan grumbled.

"Really? Aren't you a paranormal investigator?" Mabel asked.

"Yeah, that' don't mean I like all paranormal activity."

"Really? What kinds do you not like?"

"Aliens," Stan shuddered. "Monsters I can handle. Ghosts I can handle. Even cutesy little fairies that trick into think they're oh, so precious until they bite your face off I can handle. But aliens? No me gustave!"

"It's gusta," Dipper sighed.

"Whatever," Stan shrugged.

"And besides, he looked pretty normal to me," Dipper added.

"Yeah, except Mabel here said he had a weirdmagedon zodiac wheel tattoo on the back of his hand," Stan pointed out.

"Now, now, let's not jump to conclusions," Ford said. "There may be nothing sinister behind that mark."

"Let me say that again, ahem," Stan cleared his throat, "a WEIRDMAGEDON zodiac wheel. WEIRD. MA. GE. DON. WEIRDMAGEDON! If that ain't sinister than I don't know what is!"

"Stanley, shush," Ford hissed. "I'm not saying we don't have reason for concern, but let's not be hasty here, alright? At least not until we've heard this boy's story."

"Fine," Stan crossed his arms.

"Besides, Bill's dead," Dipper added. "How can there be a weirdmagedon without Bill?"

"Fair point, but I still don't like it," Stan shrugged as they finally made their way to room 13 and stepped inside. A doctor was there looking over some papers on a clipboard.

"Ah, are you this young man's family."

"Actually, we're just-" Ford began, but Stan cut him off.

"Why, yes! We're his third cousin's brother's wife's step-nieces great uncle and nephew and niece. Twice removed!"

The doctor arched an eyebrow. "Uh-huh."

Ford face palmed from behind his brother, as did Dipper, but Mabel just snickered from behind her hand.

"Well, I must say this fellow is in quite rough shape. He has four broken ribs, a fractured humerus, third degree burns on 20% of his body, a laceration across his torso from his chest to his abdomen, and torn ligaments in both legs."

"Ugh!" Mabel cringed as she looked at the poor fellow now sleeping in his hospital bed.

"Still, I expect him to make a full recovery. It's just going to take him a while and probably quite a bit of physical therapy."

Mabel slowly tiptoed to the bedside. The man definitely looked a lot better than he had in the park, he was dirty nor soaking wet any more. His right hand was Both hands resting on his chest, showing off his zodiac tattoo. Mabel now noticed on his left hand was another tattoo in the shape of a star. Not a fancy star, just a star, without so much as having the lines in the middle. Peeking out from the v-neck of his hospital gown was the corner of what looked to be another tattoo on his chest, but Mabel couldn't tell what it was.

Hm, Mabel thought to herself. Interesting tat choices. I respect that.

"Well, you're right, he seems pretty normal," Stan nodded. "Outside of the whole coming out of the washer thing."

"Doesn't that star on his left hand look kinda like Gideon's symbol?" Dipper asked.

"Yeah, a little bit," Mabel nodded.

"Hmm," Dipper reach over and pulled the man's collar down a bit. "And isn't that your symbol, Mabel?"

"Uh-huh," Mabel nodded as she gaped at the shooting star on the man's chest, just above his heart. "This is really weird."

"Hm," Ford began to scribble on the notebook he always had in his pocket.

Dipper stood back and scratched at the back of his head as he thought.

"So, clearly this guy came from an alternate dimension, right?"

"Correct," Ford nodded.

"So…" Dipper didn't finish his thought, instead he just rubbed his chin and thought some more until his phone began to go off. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it.

"Go on back to the hotel, Dipper," Ford said without looking up from his notes. "Take care of your family. We'll update you on anything that happens."

"Will do, thanks," Dipper said as he took the call and headed out of the room.

"Hey, Princess." he said as he slipped down the hallway.

Mabel watched him go.

The man in the bed suddenly gasped and opened his eyes.

"Where am I?" he asked as he tried to sit up, but immediately winced and fell back down against the bed. "Oh...ow…"

"Don't move!" Mabel said as she leaned over him. "You're in pretty rough shape."

"Yup. Noticed," the man wheezed as he looked about. "But where am I?"

"You're in a hospital," Mabel said. "My brother and I found you and your magical washing machine in the par-"

"Right!" his eyebrows raised in excitement as he rolled his head back in relief. "I made it!"

"Erm...I guess?" Mabel asked.

"This is earth 9 and 6/8's right?" the man asked.

"I have no idea-"

"Yes," Ford answered.

The man turned in surprise. "Oh, um I didn't notice you two-"

"Allow me to introduce myself," Ford said as he put his notebook away and walked forward, hand extended. "Stanford Filbrick Pines. This is my brother Stanley, and our great niece Mabel."

"Nice to meet you all," the man said though he had a strange scowl on his face. "I'm Romulus Oakland."

"Romulus?" Mabel murmured to herself. Sounds like the hero from a harlequin novel…

"Can you answer a few questions for us?" Ford asked.

"I can certainly try," Romulus answered.

"How did you get this mark on your hand?" Ford, who was still shaking Romulus's right hand, turned it so that the zodiac was facing upward.

"It was one of my three," Romulus said.

"Huh?" Stan asked.

"One of my three," Romulus said again in a matter of fact voice.

The three Pines just frowned in confusion. Romulus' eyebrows knitted.

"One of my three birthmarks…?"

"That's a birthmark!?" Mabel exclaimed. "Not even Dipper's is that fancy!"

"I...I don't understand…" Romulus shook his head. "Are you not all born with three marks to help guide you in life?"

"Uh...that would be a no," Mabel said. "Though that would be awesome!"

Would make my love life SO much easier!

"Oh," Romulus' cheeks flushed a deep pink.

"Aw, you're kinda cute," Mabel said as she pinched his cheek.

"Mabel, stop it. The boy has been through enough as is," Ford chastised her.

She let Romulus's face go. He rubbed at it but didn't look upset of offended. In fact Mabel thought she saw just the hint of a smile.

"Well," Ford stroked his chin. "Seeing as you have a zodiac sign as one of your 3, as you said, I suppose that mea-"

"You know about the zodiac!?" Romulus's eyes lit up. "Can you tell me where I can find some of the members?"

"Right in front of you!" Mabel said. "I'm the shooting star, Grunkle Stan is the Crescent, and the hand is Grunkle Ford."

Romulus's eyes widened even more. "So you've done it then? You've actually done it!?"

"Done what?" Mabel asked.

"You've beaten a Cipher, haven't you!?"

A short silence followed as the three Pines exchanged glances.

"If by Cipher you mean Bill Cipher then, yes, we have," Ford answered.

"So you can do it again, right!?" Romulus asked.

"AGAIN!?" Mabel, Ford, and Stan shrieked.

"Bill is back!?" Mabel cried.

Romulus's eyebrows raised as he waved his hands. "No. no, no, no! You're Cipher is dead and done! That's the whole reason I came here. But he's not the only one out there. There's an entire species of Ciphers. Each created with conquering a dimension. Bill Cipher, the one assigned to this dimension, was destroyed by you and the other members of your Zodiac I assume. Our Cipher, however, is alive and well and running a muck of our world!"

"Wait," Mabel cut in. "What do you mean Bill wasn't the only one…"

"Just that," Romulus said. "There's another of his kind named Phil that has conquered my dimension."

Silence fell over the room.

"We tried to stop him," Romulus continued, holding up his left hand with the star etched on it. "But our Zodiac was broken. All of the members were slaughtered. I'm…" Romulus began blinking away the tears forming in his eyes. "...I'm the only one left…"

"Oh," Mabel set a hand on his shoulder. "I'm...I'm so sorry…"

Romulus hung his head for a while longer then cleared his throat and shook himself off.

"But that's why I came here," he said. "Your zodiac is still intact, is it not?"

"If by 'intact' you mean all the members are still alive, then yes," Ford answered.

"So you can help," Romulus said. "You can save us!"

Stan grabbed Ford by the shoulder and all but dragged him to the door. "Are you hearing this?" Stan asked. "This guys wants to drag us into another weirdmageddon! I told you he was no good!"

"Can you blame him, Stanley?" Ford asked. "His ent-"

"How do we know that? How do we know he ain't lying. He might be a double agent!"

"Stanl-"

"Well, he could be!"

As the two older men kept arguing and discussing Romulus grabbed onto Mabel's arm.

"Mabel, please!" he begged. "Please! You're the only hope left for my dimension. Help us, I'm begging you!"

"Sh," Mabel set her hand over Romulus'. "Don't worry, I'll talk to them."

"Are you sure?" Romulus asked.

"Pfft! Yeah, I'm sure! I know how to work the Grunkles, trust me. I'm practically an expert!"

"Thank you," Romulus sighed as he finally relaxed and seemingly feel back to sleep.

Mabel watched him as the Grunkles kept talking. A dimension where everyone was born with three tattoos the help guide them through life, huh? She kinda wished she'd been born in a dimension like that, though not really because it was run by a Cipher right now. What all did Romulus' mean? The two on his hands were pretty easy to figure out. He was a member of the Zodiac, and he was apparently the pentagram in his dimension's version. But what about the shooting star on his chest? What was that symbol supposed to mean?


End file.
